Chapter Text
Steve heard the bell on the front door of Scoops Ahoy jingle, and plastered on his biggest customer service smile as he looked up to greet the incoming customers. The smile was quickly wiped off his face, however, when he found not a family coming in to beat the summer heat (or an eligible girl for him to flirt with), but rather his most recent annoyance. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as a leather-jacket clad man swaggered up to the counter with a shit-eating grin on his face. The same way he had what seemed like every one of Steve’s working days the last three weeks.
“Harrington! Why the long face? Why, if I didn’t know better I’d say you weren’t happy to see me, but I know you’re completely obsessed with me, so that can’t be it. What is it, worried that your hair has gone flat? Don’t fret big boy, you’re looking as Farrah-Faucett-fabulous as usual,” Eddie Munson said, making a swipe for Steve’s hair.
Steve dodged out of the way of the flailing, ring-clad hand that threatened to rustle his hair like an over-friendly camp counselor. He rolled his eyes again, crossing his arms and taking a step back so that he was firmly out of Munson’s reach. Unless he decided to vault himself over the counter, which frankly, Steve wouldn’t put past him.
“Why don’t you tell Dustin he’d better keep his mouth shut if he ever wants hair advice from me again, k Munson?” he said, wishing it had come out commanding and not petulant.
Eddie just laughed. “Aw come on Stevie, don’t take it out on the kid. He can’t help but talk about you; you know he worships you. I might even be jealous if I didn’t know I was your real favorite,” Eddie said with a wink.
He was leaning on the counter now, chin on his hands in a way that made it so he had to look up through his lashes to meet Steve’s eyes. Steve was momentarily distracted, looking down into those big, brown Bambi eyes that seemed bigger and brighter than any girl he’d ever known. Wait, why the hell was he comparing Munson to a chick? Steve shook away the thoughts as quickly as they had come. He must be overtired, that was all.
“You’ve got me there, Eddie. You’re just too irresistible,” Steve said flatly.
He ignored the flutter in his chest as he watched Eddie throw his head back with a laugh. It was loud and dramatic, like everything else about the man, but his eyes shone with genuine mirth. Steve thought that girls must think Eddie had a nice smile. Not that he’d ever seen Eddie with a girl. But then again, until last month he barely saw Eddie at all. And he certainly never thought about the other man, beyond these daily harassment sessions.
Ever since the end of the last school year, when Dustin and the other boys had joined Munson’s Daggers and Destiny club or whatever, Steve had been forced to hear way too much about him. He wasn’t sure if they’d ever even officially met back when Steve was still in school, although they must have shared a senior year Eddie’s second time around. He thought he might have vague memories of Tommy pushing him into a locker, and his stomach twisted when he thought he might have laughed along at the behavior. Just one more thing for him to regret about the person he used to be. In any case, he was irritated enough having to hear about how cool Eddie was for months. It got even worse when one day while he was working, Dustin somehow convinced him to take him, Lucas, Mike and Will for ice cream at the mall. He knew it was a deliberate plan on Dustin’s part; he had become obsessed with trying to get Steve and Eddie to be friends with each other. He griped at Steve often that he needed more friends his age, and told him in no uncertain terms that no, his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend didn’t count. Plus if he and Eddie were friends, Dustin said, then it would be easier for them to coordinate his rides. The demanding little shit.
Steve wasn’t sure why Eddie kept coming back, usually by himself, after that first time. Maybe he really liked ice cream. Or, more likely, he had nothing better to do with his time than harassing Steve while he was trying to make his minimum-wage living. It was probably hilarious to him to see how far he had fallen from his “King of Hawkins High” days. Not that he felt Munson had room to judge, seeing as how he still hadn’t even managed to graduate. When he got particularly irritated, he sometimes considered throwing that very fact in Munson’s face, but in the end it just didn’t seem right. He had an inkling that might actually hurt his feelings, unlike all his usual barbs, and that seemed much more like something “old Steve” would do. Trying to be a better person was annoying sometimes.
“Alright, Munson, are you actually going to order something or should I call mall security and have you thrown out for loitering?” Steve said with a smirk.
He would never actually do that, and unfortunately, Munson seemed to know that. Still the threat was fun. Eddie made a show of standing up and gazing intently at the row of flavors, even though Steve was pretty sure what he was about to say.
“My favorite flavor, Stevie, as always,” he said.
Steve thought if he rolled his eyes anymore today, he was going to give himself a migraine. This was Munson’s recurring bit, and had been since his first time coming in. He ordered “his favorite flavor,” but refused to actually tell Steve what it was. He said it was more fun to have Steve guess, and then tell him just how wrong he was. At least he still ate whatever he was given, and more importantly, he paid for it. Steve was pretty sure at this point that Eddie was going to say Steve got it wrong no matter what he picked. Maybe he didn’t even have a favorite flavor. As Steve was contemplating what the grossest thing he could possibly give to Munson (it was a toss up between the neon-colored bubblegum and the mint chip that Steve personally thought tasted like toothpaste), Robin came bursting out of the back room, clearly having finished her break. Eddie lit up when he saw her, and Steve got a weird sour feeling in his stomach. Eddie and Robin had a weird sort of friendship that Steve might be jealous of, if he cared about either of them. Which he didn’t.
“Ooh, Steve, you haven’t picked today’s flavor yet? You should give him –”
“Ah ah ah, my fair Lady Buckley, no cheating! This is King Steve’s quest, and his alone!” Eddie interrupted, causing Robin to laugh.
“Alright, fine. But you know he’s just going to try to pick something gross. I think he’s given up trying to actually guess your flavor.”
“Maybe I think Munson has gross taste, did you consider that?” Steve said, but the other two just laughed more at his obviously grumpy mood.
They started chatting about music or band or something. He tried not to listen too much to their conversations. One, because they never bothered trying to include him in them, not that he cared. And two, because his stomach felt weird when he paid too close attention to their easy sort of camaraderie. Maybe Dustin was right, and he did need more friends. Not that he was any stranger to loneliness, he thought, ruefully picturing his big empty house. Robin had brought Eddie over to the register and was ringing him up for his usual single scoop while they continued to chat, leaving Steve alone once again to consider the rows of ice cream in front of him. He hesitated over the bubblegum again, but at the last minute something changed his mind. He balled up a hefty scoop of the peanut butter chocolate, one of his own personal favorites, and jammed it into a cone.
Eddie had finished paying and talking to Robin, and appeared in front of the counter just as Steve was ready to hand him the cone. Their fingers brushed as he passed the other man his treat. He tried not to stare as Eddie’s long pink tongue came out and he took a slightly obscene lick of the flavor. Steve felt like he was mesmerized as he watched Eddie close his eyes, smacking his lips together and looking lost in thought for a moment. Steve was embarrassed to be caught staring when Eddie’s eyes opened again and met his.
“Nope,” Eddie said decisively, popping the “p” obnoxiously. “But a good try. Quite tasty, thanks Stevie.”
With that he turned, his long hair swishing behind him as he exited the store with much less fanfare than he had entered. Steve watched him go for probably too long, because when he came back to himself Robin was looking at him strangely.
“What?” he said, ruffling his hair self consciously.
Robin just shook her head, looking at him like he was an idiot.
“You’re an idiot,” she said, but he thought she sounded a little fond.
She picked up the dry erase board that was sitting below the counter, and slowly and deliberately added a tally mark to the “you suck” column.
“Hey! What the heck is that for? There haven’t even been any girls in here today!” he protested.
She just continued shaking her head, leaving Steve with the distinct feeling he was missing something.